Carry You Home
by Fluffy Tranquil
Summary: After a life-changing summer, Clare and Eli face another traumatic event


**I actually had the idea to use "Carry You Home" (by James Blunt) for at least a few years. I had the idea for Twilight, but I decided to change it to Degrassi a while ago. I started on actually writing this out almost a month ago. I went through documents tonight to look for something, saw this, and decided to work on it. Here's a playlist. I think I listened to some of it while I wrote the beginning of this. Besides the James Blunt song, the songs are: What Sarah Said and Grapevine Fires (both by Death Cab For Cutie), Jessica by Regina Spektor, Love Vigilantes as covered by Iron & Wine, and Song For Lovers by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the songs mentioned. Degrassi, as well, does not belong to me.**

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10:22 p.m. Clare Edwards is leaving work. It's just rained. The ground is still wet and Clare regrets having to walk to her boy friend's apartment in heels. She never thinks to bring a change of clothes to work because she lives close by, but she is heading over to Eli's apartment tonight. It's Friday and he asked her to come by after work to tell her something. She has been wondering what this special something is all day, so much so that she messed up on one of her reports. She and the other anchors were able to laugh it off, but she still gets embarrassed by making mistakes.

Clare reaches a bus stop and sets her things down on the bench to adjust her pantyhose, which have bunched up a bit on her legs. She hasn't been back at work for very long, so it feels weird to wear them again. They feel itchy sometimes, just like jeans do when it's still hot outside.

She picks up her things and starts walking again.

9:39 p.m. Eli Goldsworthy pulls up the sleeve of his black shirt to reveal his wrist-watch. It's almost 9:45, or at least that's what his watch tells him. He keeps forgetting to re-set the time.

He pushes the sleeve back down and re-buttons the cuff. It takes him a while to do this, probably because he is very giddy. His girl friend is coming over soon. She gets off of work at 10 o'clock and then, after a short walk, she'll arrive at his door.

He has some very exciting news to tell her: his novel has been picked up by a publishing company based in New Jersey. Sure, it's not a big name, nothing like some of the publishers in New York city, but his writing will actually be available to the public. In print. He was notified of this a few days earlier and he wanted to make a special night out of it. Clare was one of the first people to read his stories and since then she has been one of his biggest supporters.

Eli smiles. He's been receiving lots of good news recently. Clare's news was the better of the two though. The past five months were a complete nightmare for him. He couldn't take adequate time to eat or sleep without worrying about Clare or feeling selfish for being away from her for so long.

He shakes his head to diminish these thoughts. He picks up the remote to turn the tv on and ends up seeing one of Clare's colleagues. He must have just missed her. He sighs, but then he realizes that he will see her soon enough.

10:25 p.m. Clare is still walking to Eli's apartment. It's getting a little cold and she hopes it doesn't rain again. It's cool out tonight, which she really enjoys, but she does not want to arrive at Eli's apartment soaking wet. After all, he could propose to her tonight. She would want to look her best.

_Though he's seen you at your worst_, her brain reminds her. Gosh, this year really does deserve an award for teaching her a lot. She'd experienced practically every emotion known to humankind. More recently, the positive side of that spectrum found its way into her life, but the time immediately before that tipped in the farthest direction. Her parents and friends, and especially Eli, had plenty of experience with her during that time.

She takes a deep breath. She doesn't want to think about any of this right now. It would get her worked up and she just wants to enjoy her life and spend her time wisely.

She looks to her left, then turns to look right. She steps out into the street. She is three or four steps away from reaching the other side when she briefly sees a dark-colored object out of the corner of her eye.

10:17 p.m. Eli is waiting patiently on the couch in his living room. He wonders if Clare has left work yet. His stomach growls and he decides to make something to eat. Clare might be hungry as well, so he picks her favorite, which is spaghetti, and begins to make it.

As the noodles are cooking, he glances at the clock. The minutes tick by. 10:20. 10:22. 10:23. 10:23 again. It seems as if two minutes have gone by at this time, rather than one. But maybe the saying rings true: a watched clock never moves.

_Whoever thought of that one was totally onto something_. He chuckles. He knows all about the agony of waiting for things. He remembers experiencing the same thing back in April, then again in the following months, and yet again with this book deal. But all three have arrived and passed by now, so he can get through another fifteen minutes or so of waiting for Clare.

Eventually, the noodles are tender and he turns the stove off. He opens his cabinet to get the strainer and drains the noodles of the liquid. He places the pot back onto the stove top to let them cool, hoping that they will still be hot when Clare arrives.

10:28 p.m. Something collides with the right side of Clare's body, knocking her to the ground. As her body hits the damp ground, she hears a loud noise that is accompanied by an immense amount of pain shooting through her. She's hit her head and blood begins to flow from the wound. It runs down the side of her head, creating a small pool on the ground. She feels some of the liquid in her hair and her brain is having trouble processing everything. It's still thinking that she is just walking over to Eli's place, so she equates this moisture with the rain. It is cool on her skin.

She does not realize where she really is and passes out before she can even question anything of her current state.

10:40 p.m. Eli is sitting on his couch once again. He is watching the news to pass some time. A story finishes up and the program returns back to two news casters. One women begins to talk and tells the viewers that a woman on Grove Street has been found, unconscious and bleeding. The driver of the vehicle who hit the woman was the one to call for help. The anchor says that the woman has been rushed to the hospital and that she has not been identified yet.

No video footage accompanies the story and Eli's heart starts to beat quickly. Clare would have to walk on the same street to get to his place.

Frantically, he retrieves his cell phone from off of the coffee table and dials Clare's number.

10:54 p.m. Clare's mother received a call and is currently on her way to the hospital. From the information the person on the phone gave her, Clare could be in serious trouble. Sometimes there are turn-arounds and medical advancements have been able to save a lot of lives, but Helen's mind automatically goes to the worst case scenarios.

She already almost lost her daughter, so she wonders why she has to face another moment like this. Tears begin to run down her face and she wipes them away quickly so that she can see the road clearly.

11:04 p.m. Eli's attempts to contact Clare have failed. His eyes start to feel moist as he dials the number of someone from the studio. Perhaps she has not even left yet, or maybe she just started her journey. She could have stayed late for some reason.

It takes a while to get a response, but he is informed that Clare left a little more than a half an hour earlier.

He grits his teeth and paces his living room.

The phone rings and within a minute or two, he has grabbed his jacket and is out the door.

11:10 p.m. Helen is at the hospital, waiting for Glen to arrive. Clare is still being examined, but she was able to see her for a brief moment. She happily took that short amout of time to see her daughter. The doctors need all the time they can get to see what is wrong. She does not want to be responsible for interfering with their work.

11:18 p.m. Eli parks his car and enters the hospital through the E.R. entryway. When he eventually sees Helen, she is surrounded by various family members. Darcy, Jake, Glen. Even Randall is there. He's standing a little father from the others, but he is there nonetheless. He knows how it must feel to be told that someone he loved very much was in grave danger.

"Can...Can I go see her?" Eli asks Helen.

"They're doing some stuff right now and I would not interrupt them. It could mess up whatever they're doing in there and I would not want anyone to suffer that blame." She sniffles and Eli can hear her next statement a little more clearly. "But they said that we can probably see her soon."

_Probably_? _Probably?_ He wants to shout and express his anger so badly. His girlfriend almost lost her life to cancer during the summer and now this accident occurs. He puts a hand to his head and grips his hair. He pulls at it, but he does not scream, despite the pain it's causing him. Sounds erupt from his throat though, sounds that he has no control over. He's sobbing and it is hard for him to find his balance. He sinks to the floor and leans against the wall, attracting much attention from the other people in the waiting room.

Not long after, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Helen. She sticks her hand out and it takes Eli a little while to accept her offer, but he eventually stands up. Clare needs someone who is going to be strong. That's something he feels he can't be if he's being selfish and only worrying about his own feelings. He should be thinking about what is happening to _her_ at this moment.

He lets out a deep breath. The evening has passed very slowly, but the time to come will only seem to last even longer.

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**Please review! I will be updating this, so it's not a one shot or anything! Sorry for writing something really sad by the way! I just got the idea from the song this story is named after. I also wanted this to be better, but I did write it rather quickly, I'd say. It is short as well.  
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**-Fluffy Tranquil**


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